French telecom regulator Arcep has commenced its 4G auction, giving interested parties until mid-September to register bids for 2.6GHz spectrum, and mid-December for 800MHz spectrum. The government expects to raise at least €2.5 billion from the process.
The US Department of Justice has cleared Google’s planned purchase of Nortel patents, stating the deal would not raise competition concerns.
Bahrain's Batelco and investment company KHC expect to complete the joint purchase of a 25% stake in Zain Saudi for $950 million (€673 million) by the end of the third quarter.
A Chinese court has handed down prison terms to three people for stealing information about the iPad 2 six months before the product was announced. The case involved a Chinese accessories maker bribing former Foxconn employees to obtain digital images of the device.
Google is reportedly working on its next own-branded Android phone, which will include a dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz GPU, have a 720p HD screen and support 1080p video capture and playback.
Time Warner Cable will buy US cable, internet and phone service provider NewWave Communications for $260 million (€184 million).